THIS MONTH IN THE delicious. KITCHEN...

As the delicious. food team cook and test recipes, there’s constant tinkering and fervent discussion: timesaving ideas; new tricks we’ve heard of; some technique we’ve dreamed up and want to try… Then there are the questions and input we get from colleagues as they come to see what’s cooking. On these pages, our aim (with help from our regular experts) is to reproduce that test kitchen atmosphere, sharing the most useful ideas and tips we’ve discovered. It’s cookery gold!

MAKE THE BOUNTY LAST

QUINCE

Quinces are fruit to wrestle with – lumpy and bumpy to peel, hard to cut into, the devil to core. But the flavour is extraordinary so they're worth fighting with. Try to get British quinces, which tend to be smaller and more battered looking than imports, but are more perfumed.

FREEZE Quinces are best frozen after cooking, so peel, quarter and core the fruit, then cook until tender in 1 litre water mixed with 500g sugar, plus a vanilla pod. The longer you can poach quinces the better the flavour and deeper the colour. Cool, then pack into freezer bags or boxes, cover with the cooking syrup and freeze for up to a year. Defrost and use in pies, tarts, fruit sauces, compotes and sorbets.

PRESERVE Quince ‘cheese’, slabs of intense, deep-orange quince jelly, is often sold as membrillo these days, but it’s a traditional British delicacy too. Eat it with cheese, or cut into cubes and roll in sugar to have as a petit four with coffee. To make it, peel, quarter and core 3 large quinces. Put in a pan, cover with water and boil until tender.

Drain, then purée the fruit in a food processor. Weigh the purée, then return to the pan with an equal weight of granulated sugar and the juice of ½ lemon. Cook gently, stirring often, for 2 hours or so until very thick and a deep carnelian colour. (Wear long sleeves: the mixture tends to spit.) Pour into a 20cm x 20cm baking tin lined with non-stick baking paper (it should be 2-3cm deep) and leave to set. Chill overnight, then cut into cubes. Store in a sealable container for up to a year.